Day care babies: More infections now, fewer later

http://www.cnn.com/2010/HEALTH/12/06/daycare.kids/index.html?hpt=Sbin

By Denise Mann, Health.com
December 6, 2010 4:35 p.m. EST

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Babies who attend large-group child-care centers before they are 2 ½ years of age do get more respiratory and ear infections than those cared for at home, but they are less likely to come down with these ailments once they start elementary school, according to the study.

"Children have infections at the time they initiate large-group activities, whether they do it earlier or later," says study author Sylvana M. Côté, Ph.D., of Ste-Justine Hospital and the University of Montreal, Quebec, in an email. "I argue earlier is better to have infections because then kids do not miss school at a crucial time -- when learning to read and write."

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